


When Fortune Knocks

by Starrynightskies



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3209153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrynightskies/pseuds/Starrynightskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ice dancer without a partner cuts a lonely figure. As the 2005/2006 season draws to a close, both Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje find themselves partnerless and directionless. This is the story of how a blonde Texan schoolgirl and a tall, dark and handsome Canadian crossed international borderlines to form a partnership which would take on the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Companionless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fan fiction was inspired by a number of articles about the beginning of Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje's partnership. 
> 
> Here they are if you are interested: 
> 
> http://www.skatetoday.com/2007/05/01/color-them-bronze/  
> http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/story/2013/09/13/sp-kaityln-weaver-figure-skating-canada-sochi-classic.html  
> http://www.skatecanada.ca/2015/01/kaitlyn-weaver-and-andrew-poje-looking-for-their-first-canadian-title/

## Companionless

####  Avon, Connecticut, USA - July 2006 

Ask anyone at Avon High School about Kaitlyn Weaver and they'd automatically say, 'oh she's the skater'. While other girls dressed in the latest fashions everyday, Kaitlyn's attire was always utilitarian skating tights. This was so not a moment of training time could be lost when she left school early everyday for the rink. Not the most on-point choice, but who cares?, reasoned Kaitlyn. What else could possibly matter more than skating? To hell what the other girls thought, she was focused, determined, her eyes on the prize.

Kaitlyn was an ice dancer. There's two people in an ice dance team. Two people joining together, united by common goals and a shared passion.

Only when Kaitlyn left school early, she skated alone. Eventually, her partner would arrive at the rink to join her. A few years ago they had talked excitedly of the Olympics, but now his head was full of college applications and when she tried to speak of the future, his eyes would become distant and he refused to look at her.

At home, Kaitlyn's moods would swing from righteous anger to pitiful sobbing. It wasn't fair. She wanted this so badly, why couldn't he? Why did she have the partner who was going to bail out the day after graduation?

This would all replay itself again by the end of summer. The next one would only last just on eights weeks before he too chose to 'accept reality', 'do something real with his life' and left for college. Kaitlyn didn't want to accept reality. She wanted to dream. And so, Kaitlyn 'the skater' was left to skate alone.

#### Waterloo, Ontario, Canada - July 2006

An ice dancer without a partner cuts a pretty lonely figure. An ice dancer without a partner is useless. A bit like a leftover glove after its matching pair has been lost.

Today, Andrew practised the golden waltz. By himself, complete with arm movements, visualising an imaginary partner. This was ridiculous.

Andrew got into ice dance in the first place because there was a shortage of boys at the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club. Partners everywhere. He was still outnumbered 10 to 1, except these days none of them were good enough, really.

For the last few years, in the evenings Andrew would skate with all of the girls who didn't have partners. This was on top of his regular training. If Andrew had his way, he would skate every second of the day. It was an amusing diversion as well. After all, several of them were quite pretty. Secretly, he was quite flattered by the bursts of giggles that erupted from them when they congregated back into groups and watched him when they thought he couldn't see.

But there was no time for that now. Vancouver was in less than 4 years and he didn't even have a partner. No partner and no plan. 

Four months ago, he'd walked past a inconsolable Tessa Virtue at Canadian Nationals, sobbing because she and Scott had missed the Olympic team. Andrew had actually been envious. His old school mates and training buddies had come third and their partnership was as solid as a rock. Andrew was then onto his second partner. They'd finished ninth and it would be the last time they'd compete together. Tessa and Scott were so bloody lucky. 

Andrew had vaguely wondered how things could have been different if Tessa's father had taken a job in Waterloo instead of London. Maybe they could have skated together. Maybe they could have even gone to Torino and would now be determinedly training for Vancouver. How Andrew had been envious when Tessa and Scott had left to go to Detroit to train with _the_ Marina Zoueva. All Andrew had got that year was his first partner telling him that she just couldn't take it anymore and she wanted to quit.

'I should get you a broomstick and paint Angelina Jolie's face on it', shouted Paul MacIntosh from behind the boards. Andrew knew where Paul could shove that broomstick. He continued to waltz alone, pretending he couldn't hear.

'Come on, Poje, I have a list'. Andrew slowly skated over, looking down at the ice through his long dark fringe.

A list of partnerless ice dancers. Here we go again. Andrew scanned down the page. He had predicted most of them. He recoiled slightly at the thought of skating with _that_ one. Then his eye caught a name towards the end of the list ...

 

_Kaitlyn Weaver._


	2. Canada??

## Canada??

'Canada?' asked Jackie Weaver. 'Next week? 'Who is this Andrew Poje, anyway?'

'It's pronounced 'Poh-jay', Mom. He's a Canadian ice dancer, he's skating seniors and now he wants to skate with me'.

'What's wrong with all of the American boys you've tried out with?'

'They're not good enough. And I'd have to relocate. They'd just be a waste of time.'

'But you'd move all the way to Canada to skate with this Poje? To represent Canada? Just like that? What about America, Kaitlyn? You've been raised in this country. I'm not sure how I feel about this.'

Kaitlyn thought she could almost hear the Star-Spangled Banner playing softly behind the tone of her mother's voice. She didn't need to be made feel guilty about this.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath. If she lost her temper her mother wouldn't take her seriously. 'This is my big chance. If I let this go, there might not be another partner. From any country. Andrew is good and he wants to skate. You've got to support me on this. Everything I've trained for, everything we moved to Connecticut for... It's all been leading up to this. If I let this go, we might not have even bothered.'

Jackie looked at her 17 year old daughter's pleading expression. Kaitlyn was determined, she knew that. Jackie knew there was little point in saying no. She was pretty sure that Kaitlyn would find her way to Canada with or without her approval, even if she had to hitch hike there.

'Alright then Kaitlyn, we'll go. Besides, it's only a tryout. Say, do you have a photo of the boy?'

Kaitlyn went to her computer and logged onto her Myspace. She clicked open Andrew's profile. He'd added her as a friend after their coaches had spoken to discuss a try out. 

Jackie's eyes narrowed. On a certain level it had niggled her that her young daughter's 'sport' had her in skintight dresses and make up dancing the tango with boys. Her friends had commented on it. But Kaitlyn's previous partner had been completely harmless, a geeky bookworm who seemed younger than his age suggested. Nothing to worry about there.

She grabbed the mouse and scanned through the photos. Long dark hair casually tousled across his forehead and stubble grew when he neglected to shave. Photos with his buddies at hockey matches showed him clearly availing himself of Canada's more liberal drinking laws and he could be seen with his arm draped around a bevy of girls with a too smug look on his face. He was extremely good looking and it seemed he knew it too. Jackie wasn't really sure she wanted a boy like this near her schoolgirl daughter.

'What's he doing painted as a bumble bee?' demanded Jackie, pointing at a photo of Andrew in nothing but boxers, his bare body painted in yellow and black stripes.

'I think those are the colours of the University of Waterloo', mumbled Kaitlyn, hurriedly clicking close on her browser. She'd made a mistake showing her mother this. 'Anyway, that's not important'.

'I'm not so sure about this, Kaitlyn, he looks so much older than you. You still haven't finished High School. I'm not sure what your father would...'

'Mom! What are you talking about?! We're just going to skate together, that's all! Look I have homework to do. I can't believe we're talking about this!'


	3. Doubts

## Doubts 

If Kaitlyn was going to be perfectly honest, very honest, the thought of skating with Andrew Poje made her pulse quicken and her breath catch in her chest.

They'd met before - well, at least Kaitlyn had noticed him. Kaitlyn had spent a couple of summers in Kitchener Waterloo attending skating camps run by Paul MacIntosh. Andrew cut an imposing figure on the ice. Impossibly tall, he towered over the other skaters, his dark hair framing his large brown eyes. Kaitlyn had wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through that hair, whether it was as soft as it looked...

They never had the opportunity to talk. Andrew was busy in the senior A team skating with his partner, and Kaitlyn was left to look on with the juniors. Kaitlyn had quietly wished that maybe she could dance with him on those nights where he made the rounds of the rink. But she had her own partner then. 

Turning around to make sure her mother had gone, Kaitlyn clicked open Andrew's MySpace again. She scrolled down through his photos and she tensed with an onset of nerves. She felt so young all of a sudden. Her mother didn't let her drink and she had become so caught up with skating that she hadn't got any further than her Learner's Permit for driving. She clicked open a photo of Andrew with his arm around a pretty brunette, also painted in University of Waterloo colours and studied it closely. She'd kissed a boy before, but she had certainly never...

'Get a grip, Kaitlyn!' she yelled at herself, the sensible part of her brain cutting off this ridiculous train of thought. 'You're both professional, elite athletes. This is a business partnership. Stop embarrassing yourself!'

But her mind still lingered where it really shouldn't. What should she wear for the tryout? She wished she had something more, well, mature to wear. Another skater at her rink had a black backless leotard that would be perfect, but Kaitlyn figured her that her mother would have a heart attack if she asked for such an item at this point.

Well, black tights and her best new purple dance top it would have to be. Kaitlyn wondered if Andrew liked purple. 

She really wanted to slap herself across the face now. She had always prided herself on being a sensible girl. So disciplined and focused on the task at hand. Now she was acting like a blithering idiot. She didn't even recognise this part of her. This was an entirely new feeling. 

Kaitlyn lay down on her bed, her chest constricted with nerves. How on earth was she going to do this? 

Later that night, Kaitlyn woke with a start from a nightmare. She'd fallen flat on her face three times in a row and everyone at the rink, Andrew included, was pointing and laughing at her. It had seemed so real she had to think for a moment to reassure herself it was only a dream. 

Kaitlyn buried her face into her pillow and shut her eyes.


End file.
